Tag Archives: autofocus

Scratching my head and a Eureka! moment…

So, I’ve been playing with my new Nikon D500 and one thing was a real head-scratcher: the behavior of focus vs. release priority mode when using continuous servo (AF-C) focus. For some reason, I couldn’t get focus priority mode to work when using AF-ON mode.

The priority mode option (in theory) allows you to choose as to whether or not the shutter will fire when the camera’s active AF sensor indicates proper focus. In single-servo mode (AF-S), focus-priority is the default. In continuous-servo mode, release-priority is the default. Continue reading Nikon D500: Setting up a Focus Trap→

If you are using a Nikon D800, chances are that you want to make big prints or crop aggressively. To get the kind of sharp images that can stand up to these stresses, you need a tack-sharp image. Focus is a big part of getting sharp images.

As I mentioned yesterday, camera shake is a critical factor in determining image sharpness. For best results, you want to use either a very fast shutter speed or a tripod to eliminate camera shake from softening your images. Today, I’ll take a quick look at focus accuracy and how you can maximize it with your Nikon DSLRs. Continue reading D800 Sharpness: Focus Accuracy→

The 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 AFS G VR zoom Nikkor is one of those lenses that is often overlooked by professionals as a viable telephoto option. Why? For starters, it’s relatively slow maximum aperture (f/5.6) means that you really need to shoot it at f/8 to get maximum sharpness. For sports and wildlife shooters, who require fast shutter speeds, that meant using the lens either in bright conditions or with very high ISO settings. That equation changed with the release of the Nikon D3, which allowed very high ISO shooting with clean results. In fact, I recall Dave Black saying how he could use the 70-300mm with the D3 as a viable option. Continue reading Testing the Nikon D4: Performance with the 70-300mm VR Nikkor→